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AIA Strongly Urges FAA Reauthorization

July 19, 2011

The Aerospace Industries Association strongly urges Congress to pass a FAA reauthorization extension to avoid serious disruptions to the agency.

“Congress needs to act quickly to extend FAA’s operations,” said AIA President and CEO Marion C. Blakey. “If the House and Senate cannot work out their differences on a full reauthorization bill in the time remaining, another short-term extension should be passed.”

The current FAA authorization—the 20th extension passed since September 2007—is set to expire Friday, July 22. Failure to extend authorization would have dire operational and economic consequences. Among the immediate impacts to FAA are:

• Lost revenue to the Trust Fund of approximately $200 million per week
• The furlough of about 4,000 non-essential FAA employees not funded through the operations account
• Delays in implementing the Next Generation Air Transportation System, which a recent Deloitte report says will generate $29 billion per year in U.S. economic benefits and eliminate 29 million metric tons of carbon emissions when the system is fully implemented

“Summer is the busiest travel time of the year,” Blakey said. “No one wants to see the FAA turned upside down, especially now.”